INDIA in F1

Tag: Mexican GP

  • Carlos Sainz powers to sixth career pole: Mexico City GP

    Carlos Sainz powers to sixth career pole: Mexico City GP

    Mexico City, 26 October 2024: Carlos Sainz powered to his sixth career pole position beating Max Verstappen and Lando Norris by more than two tenths of a second to claim top spot on the grid for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix. At the other end of the timesheet, though, there were shock Q1 exits for McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and for home hero Sergio Pérez. 

    “A great couple of laps,” said Sainz of his final runs at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. “A lot of times around Mexico you always have the feeling like you cannot put a lap together and it’s extremely difficult with how much sliding there is. But today, honestly, my two laps of Q3 were pretty much identical, almost perfect. And yeah, I just put two really solid laps in Q3, enough for pole.”

    Earlier at the start of Q1, there was drama in the closing moments when Piastri and Pérez were both dumped out of the session. For Pérez the issue was a lack of confidence under braking and ahead of the final runs the Mexican found himself rooted to the bottom of the timesheet. In normal circumstances, a final run would have provided the platform for a vault to safety, but this time Pérez failed to make the jump and he exited in P18. 

    Piastri, meanwhile, had a late lap time deleted and then, during a last-ditch final flyer, the Australian made a mistake on his final run, taking too much kerb in Turn 12, It was an error the McLaren driver said cost him “a second” of time and he was ruled out in P17. 

    At the top of the timesheet, Norris looked to have pace in hand as he beat Sainz and Verstappen by almost three tenths of a second. And the McLaren driver carried that good form into Q2. He again went quickest, this time eclipsing Verstappen and Sainz by two tenths, with Charles Leclerc fourth ahead of the Mercedes cars of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. 

    Behind them, in the final seconds of the session, Yuki Tsunoda lost control of his RB and the Japanese driver spun into the barriers. The crash brought out the red flags and the clutch of drivers behind Tsunoda were all denied a final run. 

    It meant that Tsunoda exited in P11, but his crash also denied 12th placed team-mate Liam Lawson another attempt and the New Zealander dropped out ahead of fellow hopefuls Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas. 

    At the start of Q3 Verstappen went out on track early and the Dutchman posted a good time of 1:16.368. However, within moments the Red Bull driver’s lap was deleted for going beyond track limits in Turn 2 and he dropped to P10. Norris, meanwhile, had a poor opening and ahead of the final runs he sat in fifth. Sainz though was on fire and the Spaniard took provisional pole with a lap of 1:16.055, a sizeable 0.360s ahead of Leclerc, Russell and Hamilton 

    Verstappen went late at the end of Q3 but though the Dutchman found an improvement and crossed the line in 1:16.171 it wasn’t enough to deny Sainz who took a superb pole as the only man to dip below 1m16s with his P1 time of 1:15.946. Norris also improved, but with the McLaren driver later saying  he had found the limit of his car in Q1 and Q2, he had to settle for third. 

    Leclerc, who suffered a snap of oversteer on his final lap, was left with fourth ahead of Russell and Hamilton, while Kevin Magnussen is set to start seventh for Haas ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’ Alex Albon and the second Haas of Nico Hülkenberg.

    2024 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:15.946 – –
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:16.171 0.225 
    3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.260 0.314 
    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.265 0.319 
    5 George Russell Mercedes 1:16.356 0.410 
    6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.651 0.705 
    7 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:16.886 0.940 
    8 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:16.892 0.946 
    9 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:17.065 1.119 
    10 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:17.365 1.419 
    11 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:17.129 1.183 
    12 Liam Lawson RB/Honda RBPT 1:17.162 1.216 
    13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.168 1.222 
    14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.294 1.348 
    15 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.817 1.871 
    16 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 1:17.558 1.612 
    17 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:17.597 1.651 
    18 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.611 1.665 
    19 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:17.617 1.671 
    20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.072 2.126 

  • Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in FP3: Mexican GP

    Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in FP3: Mexican GP

    Charles Leclerc tops FP3 in Mexico on Saturday morning. An FIA image

    Mexico City, 26 Oct 2019: Charles Leclerc went quickest in the final practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix, with the Monegasque driver beating team-mate Sebastian Vettel by just 0.027s at the end of a late chase for top spot following a wet start to the session.

    Heavy overnight rain left the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez track surface too damp for slick tyres and the early part of the session saw the few teams that took to the track run cautiously on green-banded intermediate tyres.

    Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen led the way in the first half-hour, the Dutchman posting a time of 1:26.118 that left him four-tenths clear of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

    With a little over 13 minutes left in the session, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen bolted on a set of soft tyres and when the Finn immediately went more than four seconds quicker than Verstappen it sparked a furious final 10 minutes of action as teams attempted to learn as much as possible in the short time available.

    The top spot was traded among Bottas, on medium compound Pirellis, Verstappen, the second Red Bull of Alex Albon and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, all on softs, before Bottas moved further ahead.

    The Finn moved to soft tyres and with a little over two minutes left on the clock he took P1 with a lap of 1:16.259. Hamilton couldn’t match that with his run on softs, with the Briton putting in a slight scruffy lap to cross the line over a tenth behind his team-mate.

    It was left to Leclerc and Vettel to lead the way and as the chequered flag was shown Leclerc took top spot with a time of 1:16.145, just under three-hundredths of a second ahead of Vettel.

    Their times shuffled Bottas and Hamilton to third and fourth places respectively, while Sainz took fifth place for McLaren.

    Neither Red Bull driver found space for a clean run in the final minutes of the session, with Verstappen coming across a slow Alfa Romeo on his run and Albon being slowed by Williams’ Robert Kubica. Verstappen thus had to settle for sixth place, almost eight tenths of a second off Leclerc, while Albon finished eighth.

    The Red Bulls were split by the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman sat out the bulk of the session with illness but he went out on track in the final minutes to post a time of 1:17.090 to edge Albon by 0.004s.

    Lando Norris was ninth in the second McLaren, 1.001s off the pace and the final top 10 position was taken by Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez.

    Down at Renault technical problems prevented Daniel Ricciardo from taking part, while team-mate Nico Hulkenberg completed a single installation lap. The team reported “pollution of one of the cooling systems, which requires careful cleaning not to damage any component”.

    2019 FIA Formula One Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 14 1:16.145
    2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 11 1:16.172 0.027
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 18 1:16.259 0.114
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 16 1:16.381 0.236
    5 Carlos Sainz McLaren 14 1:16.638 0.493
    6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 12 1:16.903 0.758
    7 Pierre Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso 10 1:17.090 0.945
    8 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing 19 1:17.094 0.949
    9 Lando Norris McLaren 11 1:17.146 1.001
    10 Sergio Perez Racing Point 10 1:17.207 1.062
    11 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 14 1:17.529 1.384
    12 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 19 1:17.740 1.595
    13 Lance Stroll Racing Point 8 1:17.866 1.721
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 8 1:17.881 1.736
    15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 12 1:18.132 1.987
    16 Romain Grosjean Haas 14 1:18.527 2.382
    17 George Russell Williams 13 1:20.965 4.820
    18 Robert Kubica Williams 13 1:22.002 5.857
    19 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1